# EUR-Lex - 52013DC0453 - EN

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# 52013DC0453

**COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS End-to-end e-procurement to modernise public administration /* COM/2013/0453 final */**

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1.           Introduction

This Communication identifies the state of
implementation of “end-to-end e-procurement”[1] (from
the electronic publication of notices to electronic payment) in the EU, as
foreseen by the 2012 Communication “A strategy for e-procurement”[2]. It sets out actions which
should be taken by the EU and by Member States to achieve the transition towards
end-to-end e-procurement.

The management of public procurement is of
primary policy importance in the current context of fiscal consolidation. As public
expenditure on goods, works and services represents 19% of the EU’s GDP[3], managing it more efficiently
can significantly contribute to improving the overall efficiency of
public expenditure. The current crisis provides an opportunity for Member
States to further engage in implementing structural changes in their
administration, with the aim of reducing the share of public expenditure in
their GDP while leveraging saved resources to invest in growth-enhancing
policies. The World Bank estimates that e-procurement can trigger savings
of 6 to 13.5% of the total public procurement expenditure[4].

An effective public administration is a
key element of the competitiveness of the EU economy. The modernisation
of public administration was identified as one of the five priorities of the
Commission’s Annual Growth Survey in 2012 and in 2013[5]. Reform of public procurement,
digitisation of public administration, reduction of administrative burden, and
increased transparency are all growth enablers.

The transition to end-to-end e-procurement
can generate significant savings, facilitate structural re-thinking of certain
areas of public administration, and constitutes a growth enabler by opening up the
Internal Market and by fostering innovation and simplification. It can also facilitate SME participation in public procurement by
reducing administrative burden, by increasing transparency over business
opportunities, and by lowering participation costs.

End-to-end e-procurement is not about
implementing an IT project which would just replicate paper-based processes; it
is an opportunity to fundamentally re-think the way public administration is
organised. End-to-end e-procurement is therefore a key enabler of the above
priorities, and can contribute to the sustainable growth objectives of the EU
2020 Strategy.

In order to reap the benefits of
e-procurement[6],
and as part of the modernisation of the public
procurement legal framework[7],
at the end of 2011 the
Commission proposed to make the e-notification[8],
e-access to procurement documents[9],
and e-submission[10]
phases mandatory. The Commission has now adopted a proposal which aims to
digitalise another phase of the procurement process: invoicing. This proposal,
foreseen in the 2012 Single Market Act II, aims to achieve a transition towards
mandatory acceptance of e-invoices by all public buyers by a deadline linked as
closely as possible to that of e-procurement. This would maximise the benefits
for the EU economy and allow European companies and contracting authorities to
fully take advantage of the benefits of the Digital Single Market.

The
modernisation of the public procurement legal framework and the proposal on
e-invoicing address the main drivers of the digitisation of public procurement.
E-payment is to a large extent already addressed by the legislation on the
Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA), while e-ordering depends on the
implementation of e-catalogues, contained in the legislative proposal on public
procurement. The remaining process (e-archiving) is dependent on e-invoicing,
confirming the need to pursue the latter first. Therefore, although the final
goal is to conduct the whole procurement cycle from e-notification to e-payment
electronically, at this stage the Commission does not foresee legislative
proposals to digitalise the remaining processes. The
Commission will however monitor future developments in these areas and may
decide to undertake action if it deems it useful or necessary.

Member States will play the key role in implementing end-to-end
e-procurement, as they will need to set-up actionable strategies to govern the
transition. Most strategies which have already been
set-up do not contain action plans addressing operational issues. Out of the 22
Member States which have established strategies for e-procurement, only 8 have
set e-procurement take-up targets.

2.           End to end e-procurement as a means to modernise public administration

Member States should seize the opportunity
of implementing end-to-end e-procurement to improve the way public procurement
is conducted, and, even more importantly, to fundamentally modernise the
functioning of their public administrations. To maximise benefit, it is
necessary to take a strategic and holistic approach, setting out the
appropriate policy and legislative legal framework, and ensuring governance and
coordination. For example, policy
choices will have to be made to ensure that companies have easy access to
procurement opportunities. This could be achieved by publishing all national
procurement opportunities on a single website or by establishing multiple
websites which exchange information.

End-to-end e-procurement offers the
opportunity to re-engineer the entire procurement procedure, potentially
affecting the degree of (de)centralisation of public procurement in the Member
States[11]

End-to-end e-procurement can improve the overall administrative efficiency by cutting the duration of the purchase-to-pay
cycle, by reducing administrative burden, and by improving auditability. These in turn, reduce the opportunity for
corruption and tax fraud, increase security of data and reduce litigation[12]. The Lombardy Central
Purchasing Body assessed in 2009 that the introduction of e-procurement reduced
the duration of procurement procedures by 26% and litigation by 88%.

Moreover, digitalisation facilitates the
monitoring of public procurement and therefore of a significant portion of
public expenditure. In Portugal, the public procurement
portal ‘Base’[13]
allows the monitoring of public procurement expenditure and volume and the
establishment of statistics on the type of purchases, tenders won by companies,
etc.

End-to-end
e-procurement can also produce spill-over effects by triggering wider
digitalisation of government services, resulting in more efficient, citizen and
business-friendly public services. This can also stimulate innovation and
contribute to achieving the objectives of the Digital Agenda for Europe[14] and the eGovernment Action
Plan 2011 – 2015[15].

The introduction of e-invoicing can
contribute to the automation of other post-award processes via spill-overs,
such as e-ordering, e-payments, and e-archiving. Moreover, e-certificates[16] may be set up as digital
one-stop-shops for all certificates requested in public procurement.
Contracting authorities would no longer need to request documents from
companies as these would be available online. These e-certificates could be
used by other public administrations than contracting authorities leading to
simplification and reductions in administrative burden. In Italy such a system is estimated to lead to savings of up to € 1.2 billion per year for companies[17]. The use of e-certificates by
UGAP, a French Central Purchasing Body, reduced administrative costs by 35% and
the awarding process was reduced by 10 days.

Several countries have already started
implementing end-to-end e-procurement. Greater benefits can be achieved if the
co-existence of parallel systems (electronic and paper) can be avoided.

3.           end-to-end e-procurement to increase
SMEs participation in public procurement

A majority of SMEs are equipped for the
use of end-to-end e-procurement, allowing them to benefit from its use.
According to 2013[18]
Eurostat figures, only 4.6% of SMEs did not have access to the internet in 2012.

In particular, e-invoicing can reduce the
costs and complexity of sending invoices; it can also limit errors via
automation and it simplifies auditing and tax collection. The latter in turn
reduces the administrative burden on enterprises, which weighs more heavily on
SMEs.

Several studies show that SMEs find
e-procurement beneficial[19]. Positive aspects mentioned by SMEs
include swifter access to information, access to a wider pool of tender
opportunities, and procedural simplification.

The experience in countries where
e-Procurement is common practice (e.g. Portugal, Ireland) is generally
positive. In South Korea, the participation of SMEs in public procurement
increased by 20% between 2003 (when e-procurement was introduced) and 2010.

Despite these inherent benefits, action
should be taken at EU, national and regional levels to facilitate the access of
SMEs to end-to-end e-procurement (see section 5). Particularly, Member States
should promote low-cost and easy-to-use e-invoicing and e-procurement services
with a view to minimising any potential costs and complexity.

4.           Low use of end-to-end e-procurement but
rapid growth

4.1.        E-invoicing state of play

As the benefits of e-invoicing are becoming
increasingly recognised, several Member States have undertaken initiatives
towards its introduction. E-invoicing in public procurement is currently
mandatory to some degree in Denmark, Sweden, and Finland, and will become
mandatory in Austria (at federal level) and in Italy as of 2014. The Netherlands have developed a portal (Digipoort) through which e-invoices can be sent to the
central government, and steps are currently being undertaken to include
regional and local bodies. In France and the Czech Republic, governmental
departments can decide to mandate e-invoices if they so choose. Other
countries, such as Spain, Belgium, Ireland and Germany, are also taking steps
towards broader use of e-invoicing in public procurement.

Despite these efforts, the adoption of
e-invoicing in public procurement is still limited in the EU. According to data
from Eurostat, only 12% of enterprises use electronic means when sending or
receiving invoices to public authorities. Another source indicates that in Europe, e-invoicing accounts for only 4 to 15% of all invoices exchanged.

Enterprises
sending / receiving both e-invoices in a standard structure suitable for
automatic processing and electronic data to/from public authorities in 2011 [%]
(Source Eurostat)

Moreover, those countries which have mandated
e-invoicing have often done so on the basis of their own national e-invoicing
standards, which for the most part are not interoperable. This has contributed
to the fragmentation of the Single Market and therefore raised the cost and
complexity of e-invoicing in cross-border public procurement. Potentially
significant savings opportunities for all stakeholders are not being realised.

The Commission's 2010 Communication
"Reaping the benefits of electronic invoicing for Europe"[20] sets as an objective that
"e-invoicing becomes the predominant method of invoicing by 2020 in Europe” and sets out a plan for increasing uptake. The Commission has now adopted a
proposal which aims to make e-invoicing the standard invoicing means in public
procurement (see 5.1).

4.2.        E-procurement state of play

E-notification and e-access to procurement
documents are generally available across the EU, though in some Member States
these functionalities are not used for all procedures and purchases. 22 Member
States have already made the use of e-notification mandatory, well before the
entry into force of EU legislation. A study carried out for the European
Commission in 2013[21]
estimates the level of up-take of e-submission in the EU at about 10%[22] in 2011 (+13% compared to 2010).

Lithuania, Portugal, Sweden and the UK made significant progress, as uptake was estimated to be above 30% in
2011. However, most countries had a level of uptake of below 5%, while 4 Member
States had no e-submission availability in public procurement in 2012: Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary and Slovenia.

In a majority of Member States (15)
e-submission is voluntary. Only Portugal has made it mandatory for all
contracting authorities and purchases, but only above a certain threshold. 5
Member States mandate it in certain specific cases. The use of e-procurement in
  Portugal is estimated to generate savings of 6 to 18% of the total public
procurement expenditure. E-procurement has also become mandatory at regional
level (e.g. Flanders, Lombardy). Detailed e-procurement country profiles can be
consulted at: http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/publicprocurement/docs/eprocurement/d2-annex-eprocurement-country-profiles-final_en.pdf

Overall, the procurement landscape is
highly fragmented[23]
and complex, accounting for a high number of different procedures, IT
technologies, certification requirements, using practices that do not fully
exploit the opportunities offered by IT technologies. The ease of use of
e-procurement systems and their interoperability are key elements enabling high
e-procurement take-up and large savings and benefits.

In order to overcome the low up-take and to
address the risk of market fragmentation, the Commission proposed, as part of
the modernisation of the Public Procurement Directives, to make e-procurement mandatory by mid-2016 and to foster its
interoperability. The proposal is currently being discussed with the European
Parliament and the Council. While the exact deadline for e-procurement
implementation is still under negotiation, the co-legislators agree on the
principle of completing the transition towards e-procurement. Following the
legislative proposal, the Commission issued a Communication which announced
measures to support the implementation of e-procurement in the EU (see the
Annex for the state of implementation of the actions). In particular, the
Commission published a report, ‘The Golden Book of e-procurement’ presenting
best practice[24].
Additionally, a Commission Expert Group on E-tendering issued recommendations
to simplify the way e-procurement is conducted, particularly for SMEs and
cross-border suppliers[25].
Both reports are proving to be effective in improving e-procurement solutions.

5.           the way forward

The Commission proposal to make
e-notification, e-access and e-submission mandatory and the measures announced
in the Communication ‘A strategy for e-procurement’,
represent important steps forward towards reaping the benefits offered by
e-procurement.

To further enable end-to-end e-procurement,
the Commission is now undertaking a series of actions,
including a legislative proposal to make e-invoicing the rule rather than the
exception in public procurement, and non-legislative measures, meant to further
support the implementation of end-to-end e-procurement
by Member States. These actions are described below[26].

5.1.        Making e-invoicing the
rule rather than the exception in public procurement

Based on the extrapolation of national
evaluations of benefits[27],
the Commission estimates that the adoption of e-invoicing in public procurement
across the EU could generate savings of up to 2.3 bn €.

In order to reap these benefits, the
Commission has adopted a proposal which aims to make e-invoicing the standard
invoicing mode for public procurement. Through spill-over effects, this should
also facilitate the take-up of e-invoicing by all market operators. The chosen
approach is twofold. Firstly, in order to eliminate interoperability issues
between national standards, it is proposed to mandate the European Committee
for Standardisation (CEN) to develop a new European e-invoicing standard which
would standardise the information contained in an e-invoice which is essential
to enable cross-border interoperability and to ensure legal compliance.
Secondly, the proposal foresees making it obligatory for Member State administrations to accept e-invoices which comply with the new European standard. The
European Commission proposes that these obligations enter into force at a deadline linked as closely as possible to
the deadline for the obligations on e-procurement foreseen by the Public
Procurement Directives.

This approach to e-invoicing implementation
is designed to give all stakeholders time to meet the operational challenges,
whilst ensuring that all Member States successfully achieve the transition. The
Commission calls upon Member States to launch the necessary preparatory work as
soon as possible to ensure timely compliance with these provisions. It
recommends that Member States make e-invoicing mandatory for all stakeholders
as soon as they set up the necessary infrastructure, so as to benefit from these
investments as soon as possible. However, Member States should at the same time
undertake all necessary steps to ensure that this does not generate any unnecessary
additional cost or burden on SMEs. The Commission will review the situation
within 5 years after the deadline for the transition in order to assess the
progress towards e-invoicing implementation.

KEY ACTIONS:

(1)
European Parliament and Council to agree new
legal framework making mandatory the acceptance of e-invoices compliant with a
new European standard.

5.2.        Standardisation work

The legislative proposals on e-invoicing
and on e-procurement are a necessary but not a sufficient condition for the
successful implementation of end-to-end e-procurement in the EU. Several
non-legislatives measures meant to support the implementation of end-to-end
e-procurement are necessary. Particularly, further standardisation work is
needed to allow the implementation of the legislative
proposal on e-invoicing.

CEN shall therefore carry out the necessary
standardisation work on the basis of a mandate by the Commission which will be
prepared at a later stage. The mandate will include a list of minimum
requirements which the standard will have to incorporate. The work will then be
carried out according to standard CEN procedures for developing new European
standards. While such a standard can only be adopted by a Technical Committee
(TC), the decision as to whether an existing TC can take on this task or
whether a new one needs to be created will be taken by CEN. CEN should also continue
its work on e-procurement with a view to simplifying e-procurement solutions, to
foster SME participation and to improve the monitoring of public procurement
via e-procurement systems. The Commission will continue to finance projects
that promote the development of end-to-end e-procurement in the EU such as e-SENS[28], and will ensure that the
relevant CEN work is embedded in this project.

Member States should promote the use of the
CEN standard within their countries in order to ensure full end-to-end
e-procurement interoperability.

As part of the multi-annual financial
framework, the Commission proposed to launch the 'Connecting Europe Facility'
(CEF)[29]
programme. Its goal is to support investments in the infrastructure required to
deliver cross-border public services, including e-procurement and e-invoicing, by
enhancing the interoperability of cross-border processes. This can foster
end-to-end e-procurement standardisation beyond the areas covered by the
forthcoming legislation and contribute to limiting non-interoperable national
solutions.

KEY ACTIONS:

(2)
European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) to carry out necessary standardisation work to allow the
implementation of the legislative proposal on e-invoicing in public procurement.
CEN to further standardise e-procurement in order to simplify its usage by
SMEs.

(3)
European Commission to finance projects
that promote the development of interoperable e-invoicing solutions
in the EU (e-SENS).

(4)
European Commission to fund and support the
development of end-to-end e-procurement (including e-invoicing) infrastructure
across Europe via the proposed Connecting Europe Facility (CEF).

5.3.        National strategies for
end-to-end e-procurement

Member States play a key role in making end-to-end e-procurement a
reality. The Commission therefore encourages Member States to set up national
strategies, with detailed action plans to ensure the implementation of
e-procurement and of e-invoicing by the deadlines set out in the Public
Procurement and E-invoicing Directives. Setting-up these strategies is an
opportunity to review the current complex set-up of end-to-end e-procurement
(fragmented, sometimes user-unfriendly and non-interoperable solutions), to
further rationalise public procurement, and to allow a wider modernisation of
public administration.

In order to make these strategies
actionable, specific action plans should be established in order to:

·
Establish intermediate targets for e-procurement and e-invoicing usage to monitor the progress
towards the objectives set out in the Public Procurement and E-Invoicing
Directives;

·
Govern the transition by choosing a strategy which maximises the benefits of end-to-end
e-procurement. The European Commission will launch a study to identify those
strategies for e-procurement and e-invoicing which prove to be most
successful. This will support Member States in assessing their own
policies;

·
Promote simplification, administrative burden
reduction, and the participation of SMEs and cross-border suppliers in end-to-end e-procurement by taking into account the results of
the Golden Book study and the Expert Group on e-tendering (see end of section
4.2);

·
Foster the development and use of e-certificates.
The use of tools such as the PEPPOL[30] Virtual Company dossier (VCD)[31] could help in establishing
them;

·
Monitor procurement spend and key performance
indicators (e.g. participation of SMEs, benefits of
end-to-end e-procurement) at national level by using information generated by
e-procurement systems in order to achieve savings and greater transparency;

·
Set-up training programmes for companies (particularly SMEs) and contracting authorities to
support them throughout the transition. Member States have the possibility of using
structural funds to finance training and, if needed, to set up the necessary
infrastructure. To take advantage of this possibility, they should include
these priorities in their future operational programmes implementing the Structural
Funds in the 2014-2020 period.

·
Address internal market objectives within
national strategies. The European Commission will
publish key principles with which any e-procurement system in Europe should
comply in order to be compatible with the Internal Market. The guidelines will
address issues such as: ease of access for cross-border suppliers (e.g.
e-procurement systems should not contain national specific data fields, which
could block access from foreign companies), ease of access for SMEs, interoperability
requirements, etc. Member States should ensure that their national strategies
enforce these guidelines.

KEY ACTIONS:

(5)
Member States to set-up national strategies
and detailed action plans for end-to-end e-procurement to ensure implementation by the deadlines foreseen in the Public
Procurement and the E-Invoicing Directives.

(6)
European Commission to launch a study that
identifies the most successful e-procurement & e-invoicing strategies
in Europe.

(7)
Member States to consider the possibility of using
Structural Funds to finance training (particularly for SMEs), to strengthen administrative
capacity, and to build infrastructure, by including
these priorities in their operational programmes as adequate.

(8)
European Commission to publish key principles
with which any e-procurement system in Europe should comply in order to be
compatible with the Internal Market principles.

5.4.        Sharing best practice

The Commission will continue the work of
the European Multi-Stakeholder Forum on e-Invoicing and will set-up a similar
forum for e-procurement. The forums will identify further standardisation work,
will coordinate European and national initiatives, and will share best
practice. The forums will group key actors of end-to-end e-procurement:
national policy makers, company representatives/SME organisations, contracting
authorities/buyers, e-procurement and e-invoicing solution providers,
standardisation bodies etc.

The Commission will also launch a study
which identifies best practice in the area of e-procurement tools, such as
e-auctions[32]
and e-catalogues[33].
These tools are occasionally misused – for example, if offers under e-auction
procedures are disclosed too early in the process, they can favour collusion
between suppliers. The study should identify how these tools could best be used
to maximise their benefits.

The Commission is leading by example in the
area of e-procurement and e-invoicing. The Commission will implement full
e-procurement (covering e-notification, e-access and e-submission) by mid-2015,
as indicated in the Communication of 2012[34].
E-invoicing has been used for the  procurement of IT goods and services since
2009, generating significant savings, faster processing time, absence of data
encoding, etc. The Commission is progressively extending the mandatory use of
e-invoicing to other areas of Commission’s procurement. These solutions will be
made available to the Member States in an open source basis to reduce
investment costs.

KEY ACTIONS:

(9)
European Commission to continue the
work of the European Multi-Stakeholder Forum on e-Invoicing. European
Commission to set up a similar forum for e-procurement to
identify further standardisation work, coordinate European and national
initiatives, and share best practice.

(10)
European Commission to launch a study that
identifies best practice in the area of e-procurement tools, such as e-auctions
or e-catalogues.

6.                     Conclusion

To achieve the huge benefits offered by end-to-end e-procurement, it
is essential to put in place an effective legal framework at EU level. The Commission therefore invites Member States and the European
Parliament to adopt the new proposal on e-invoicing in public procurement as
soon as possible; this would give a clear political signal of their commitment
to the transition. However, benefits can only fully be reaped if Member States put in place strategies to govern the transition and
to address the operational challenges.

Annex:
implementation
status of the actions of the communication “A strategy for e-procurement”

Key Actions || Implementation status

(1) European Parliament (EP) and Council to agree new legal framework requiring full transition to e-procurement. Deadline: adoption by end-2012. || On-going: The proposal is being discussed with the EP and the Council; a compromise may be reached by mid-2013.

(2) Where necessary, Commission to harmonise technical requirements via delegated acts. Deadline: after adoption of new directives. || Implementation after adoption of the revised Public Procurement Directives.

(3) Commission to propose a new legal framework for electronic identification, authentication and signatures. Deadline: by 2nd quarter 2012. || Done: Proposal adopted on 4 June 2012[35]. The proposal is discussed with the EP and the Council.

(4) e-TEG (Expert Group) to issue recommendations to promote “best of breed” e-procurement systems facilitating cross-border access and ease of use for all companies. Deadline: by early 2013. || Done : report published[36].

(5) Commission to publish report on best e-procurement practice and to promote it across the EU. Deadline: by mid-2013. || Done : report published[37]

(6) Commission to support the sustainability of PEPPOL components as of mid-2012. || Done: Open PEPPOL was set-up as a non-profit international association under Belgian law and its work is continuing. The Commission continues to support PEPPOL development through the actions included in the ISA programme.

Key Actions || Implementation status

(7) Commission to fund and support the development of e-procurement infrastructure across Europe via Connecting Europe Facility (CEF). Commission to launch projects as of 2014-2015. || On-going: the proposal to establish the CEF was adopted by the Commission end 2011 and modified in May 2013; the proposal is currently discussed under the new multiannual financial framework 2014-2020.

(8) Commission to promote use of Structural Funds to foster e-procurement take-up across Europe, as set-out in the Common Strategic Framework for 2014- 2020. || Done: Several national programmes already include references to e-procurement.

(9) Commission to implement a wide-ranging dissemination strategy on e-procurement. || On-going: Commission organised events: high level conference on e-procurement (June 2012); seminar on e-procurement (December 2012). It attended a high number of conferences and used various networks to disseminate information (e.g. Europe Enterprise Network).

(10) Commission to organise annual conference on e-procurement, starting in mid-2012. || Done: conference organised mid- 2012, 350 participants. Second conference is planned on 18 September 2013.

(11) Commission to lay the foundations for electronic systems to monitor procurement expenditure in real-time. Deadline: by mid-2013. || On-going: The European Commission contracted a study which will be completed by mid-2013.

(12) Commission to issue annual report on e-procurement. Deadline: first report in mid-2013. || Done: See section 4 of the Communication.

(13) Commission to implement full e-procurement by mid-2015 (one year before the deadline for Member States). || On-going: e-notification and e-access to documents are operational. E-submission will enter into a pilot phase by mid-2013.

Key Actions || Implementation status

(14) Commission to make its e-procurement solutions available to Member States that are building their infrastructure, to reduce investment costs. || On-going: Belgium adopted e-Prior, the Commission e-procurement system. Norway and Ireland are currently testing e-Prior.

(15) Commission to promote international regulatory dialogues about open e-procurement systems and to actively monitor relevant international standardisation work. || On-going: dialogues with the US, China and UN/CEFACT[38] launched.

[1]               End-to-end e-procurement is the use of electronic
communications and transaction processing by public sector organisations when
buying supplies and services or tendering public works, from notification to
payment.

[2]               http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/publicprocurement/docs/eprocurement/strategy/COM_2012_en.pdf

[3]               http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/publicprocurement/docs/modernising_rules/public-procurement-indicators-2011_en.pdf

[4]               http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/publicprocurement/docs/eprocurement/conferences/speeches/robert-hunja_en.pdf

[5]               Communications COM(2011) 815 final and COM(2012) 750
final.

[6]               This document refers to e-procurement as
e-notification, e-access and e-submission, which are defined below.

[7]               http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/publicprocurement/modernising_rules/reform_proposals_en.htm

[8]               Electronic publication of notices announcing public
procurement tenders.

[9]               Publication of public procurement documentation, such
as terms of reference on the web.

[10]             Electronic submission of tenders by companies when
responding to a call for tenders.

[11]             The shift towards
centralisation is an on-going trend further supported by the introduction of
e-procurement.

[12]             The list of benefits is not exhaustive: reduction of
CO2 emissions, opening international markets etc.

[13]             www.base.gov.pt

[14]             The Digital Agenda for Europe, COM(2010) 245 aims at increasing the use of e-Government services by EU citizens and
businesses by 2015.

[15]             eGovernment Action Plan 2011 –
2015 - COM(2010)743

[16]             Rolece in Spain, the French service e-Attestation,
and AVCP (Autorità Vigilanza Contratti Pubblici) Virtual Company Passport
in Italy.

[17]             Estimate of AVCP
based on number of companies and
tenders, the average number of participation per
company, the cost of producing documents and personnel cost.

[18]             http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/information_society/data/comprehensive_databases

[19]             The National Survey on e-Procurement in Portugal (2012) indicates that 78% of SMEs reported higher transparency, and 50% higher
competition. See also: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/sme/business-environment/files/smes_access_to_public_procurement_final_report_2010_en.pdf

[20]             http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2010:0712:FIN:en:PDF

[21]             The study is carried out by IDC Italia and Capgemini: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/internal_market/tenders/2011-097-c/download_en.htm

[22]             Up-take is estimated as the value of public procurement
for which companies submitted offers electronically in the EU, divided by the
total value of procurement in the EU.

[23]             There are between 250 000 and 300 000 contracting
authorities in the EU.

[24]             http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/publicprocurement/e-procurement/golden-book/index_en.htm

[25]             http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/publicprocurement/e-procurement/expert/index_en.htm

[26]             All of the actions proposed in this document are
consistent and compatible with the current Multi-Annual Financial Framework
(MFF: 2007-2013) and the proposal for the new MFF 2014-2020.

[27]             Reply from Swedish and Danish national forums on
e-invoicing received within the EMSF consultation

[28]             eSENS aims at consolidating the
core results of the existing Large Scale Pilots lead under the Competitiveness and Innovation framework Programme.
http://www.esens.eu Depending on the
signature of the Grant Agreement (under finalisation), e-Sens will be an EU
co-funded project.

[29]             See COM(2011)676,  COM(2011)665
and COM(2013) 329 of 28 May 2013.

[30]             http://www.peppol.eu/.

[31]             http://www.peppol.eu/peppol_components/virtual-company-dossier

[32]             Electronic auctions are a specific procurement
procedure which is fully electronic.

[33]             Electronic catalogues are a means to receive and
evaluate offers in a structured form – catalogue.

[34]             See Communication COM(2012) 179
final referred to in footnote 2.

[35]             http://europa.eu/newsroom/calendar/event/363056/commission-adopts-proposed-regulation-on-eid-and-esignature

[36]             http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/publicprocurement/e-procurement/expert/index_en.htm

[37]             http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/publicprocurement/e-procurement/golden-book/index_en.htm

[38]             http://www.unece.org/cefact.html